Olympic Games Summer and Winter Locations and History of the Games Olympic games summer and winter locations and history of the games Olympic games summer and winter locations and history of the games Olympic History The Olympic Games took their name from the Greek city of Olympia and though there were important athletic competitions held in other Greek cities in ancient times, the Olympic Games were regarded as the most prestigious. The games were held every four years during August and September and the word "Olympiad", which referred to the four year intervals between competitions, was commonly used to measure time. The first documented Olympic champion was a man named Coroebus, a cook from Elis who won the sprint race in 776 BC. Historians believe that the games had already existed for at least 500 years prior to that date. The Olympic Games originally featured only one event: a race called the "stade", equal to a distance of about 210 yards. By 728 BC two additional races had been added, comparable to the 400 meter and 1,500 meter races of the modern games. The Olympics came to include wrestling, boxing and the pentathlon, as well as specialized events for soldiers and heralds.

It was only in 472 BC that the events were spread out over a period of four to five days, previously they had all taken place on a single day. Participation in the Olympic Games was originally limited to free born Greeks, but as Greek civilization was spread by the conquests of Alexander the Great, the Games drew entrants from as far away as Antioch, Sidon and Alexandria. While the only official prize was a wreath or garland, successful athletes were supported by the governments of their cities and devoted much time to training. Most of the competitors were, in fact, professionals. After the Roman conquest of Greece in the second century BC, the Olympic Games suffered a decline in popularity and importance, but the Games persisted until AD 393, when the Roman emperor Theodosius I ordered their abolition. The idea of reviving the Olympic Games originated with Baron Pierre de Coubertin, a 29 year old French aristocrat who first publicly raised the issue in 1892. At a conference on international sport held in Paris in 1894, Coubertin managed to convince delegates from 49 organizations representing nine countries to vote in favor of an Olympic revival.

His chief allies in this effort were Dimitrios Vikelas of Greece and Professor William M. Sloane of the United States. The organizers had planned the first modern Olympics for 1900 in Paris, but later decided to move the date forward to 1896 and to change the venue to Athens, though the local government of the Greek capital was initially hostile to the idea. Coubertin and his colleagues of the newly formed International Olympic Committee eventually prevailed, and the first Olympic Games of the modern era were inaugurated by the King of Greece in the first week of April 1896. The Games of 1896, 1900 and 1904 were loosely organized and did not feature national teams produced by rigorous selection. The 1908 Games, held in London in a newly built 66,000 seat stadium, were the first where the events were organized by the relevant authorities in each athletic discipline. More than 2,000 athletes from 22 nations competed in 100 events.

The 1912 Olympic Games in Stockholm drew more then 2,500 competitors from 28countries and featured the first women's swimming events. No Games were held in 1916 due to World War I, but the Games enjoyed strong growth after the war, with 44 nations participating in the 1924 Olympics in Paris. At the1928 Games in Amsterdam there were more than 290 women among the 3,000athletes, more than double the number that took part in 1924. The Olympic Games were suspended again for 12 years because of World War II, resuming in 1948 in London. The post-war era saw steady growth in the number of countries and athletes competing and a dramatic increase in women's events. Politics began to intrude on the Games in a serious way at the 1972 Olympics in Munich, where Palestinian terrorists attacked Israeli athletes in the Olympic Village. Sixty nations boycotted the 1980 Moscow Olympics to protest the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, while the Soviets and some of their allies retaliated by declining to take part in the 1984 Games in Los Angeles.

The end of the Cold War has eliminated the largest source of political conflict, and most Olympic controversies in recent years have centered on accusations. Olympic Games Location (modern day) The IOC, headquartered in Lausanne, Switzerland, sets and enforces Olympic policy. The site of the games is chosen, usually at least six years in advance. The Olympic Flag Putting five colored interlocking rings on a white background was conceived by Pierre de Coubertin. Almost a century after the flag's creation, the six colors, those of the rings (blue, yellow, black, green, red) and that of the background (white), still maintain their symbolism today. The Olympic symbol, the five interlocking rings, represents the union of the five continents and the meeting of the athletes of the world at the Olympic Games. Sites of the Summer Olympic Games 1896 - Athens, Greece 1904 - St.

Louis, Missouri USA 1906 - Athens, Greece* 1932 - Los Angeles, California USA 1936 - Berlin, Germany 1984 - Los Angeles, California USA 1988 - Seoul, South Korea 2016 - Rio de Janeiro, Brazil 2020 - Tokyo, Japan Olympic Games | Britannica.com Olympic Games Beijing 2008 Olympic Games: Mount Olympus Meets the Middle Kingdom Olympic Games, athletic festival that originated in ancient Greece and was revived in the late 19th century. Before the 1970s the Games were officially limited to competitors with amateur status, but in the 1980s many events were opened to professional athletes. Currently the Games are open to all, even the top professional athletes in basketball and football (soccer). The ancient Olympic Games included several of the sports that are now part of the Summer Games program, which at times has included events in as many as 32 different sports . In 1924 the Winter Games were sanctioned for winter sports. The Olympic Games have come to be regarded as the world’s foremost sports competition . Opening ceremonies, Moscow Olympics, 1980.

AFP/Getty Images The ancient Olympic Games Origins Just how far back in history organized athletic contests were held remains a matter of debate, but it is reasonably certain that they occurred in Greece almost 3,000 years ago. However ancient in origin, by the end of the 6th century bce at least four Greek sporting festivals, sometimes called “classical games,” had achieved major importance: the Olympic Games, held at Olympia ; the Pythian Games at Delphi ; the Nemean Games at Nemea; and the Isthmian Games , held near Corinth . Later, similar festivals were held in nearly 150 cities as far afield as Rome , Naples , Odessus, Antioch , and Alexandria . Overview of the first Olympic Games, which were held in Olympia, Greece. Contunico © ZDF Enterprises GmbH, Mainz Of all the games held throughout Greece, the Olympic Games were the most famous. Held every four years between August 6 and September 19, they occupied such an important place in Greek history that in late antiquity historians measured time by the interval between them—an Olympiad. The Olympic Games, like almost all Greek games, were an intrinsic part of a religious festival.

They were held in honour of Zeus at Olympia by the city-state of Elis in the northwestern Peloponnese . The first Olympic champion listed in the records was Coroebus of Elis, a cook, who won the sprint race in 776 bce. Notions that the Olympics began much earlier than 776 bce are founded on myth , not historical evidence. According to one legend , for example, the Games were founded by Heracles , son of Zeus and Alcmene. Competition and status Asian Games At the meeting in 776 bce there was apparently only one event, a footrace that covered one length of the track at Olympia, but other events were added over the ensuing decades. The race, known as the stade , was about 192 metres (210 yards) long. The word stade also came to refer to the track on which the race was held and is the origin of the modern English word stadium.

In 724 bce a two-length race, the diaulos, roughly similar to the 400-metre race, was included, and four years later the dolichos, a long-distance race possibly comparable to the modern 1,500- or 5,000-metre events, was added. Wrestling and the pentathlon were introduced in 708 bce. The latter was an all-around competition consisting of five events—the long jump, the javelin throw, the discus throw, a footrace, and wrestling. Boxing was introduced in 688 bce and chariot racing eight years later. In 648 bce the pancratium (from Greek pankration), a kind of no-holds-barred combat, was included. This brutal contest combined wrestling, boxing, and street fighting. Kicking and hitting a downed opponent were allowed; only biting and gouging (thrusting a finger or thumb into an opponent’s eye) were forbidden. Between 632 and 616 bce events for boys were introduced.

And from time to time further events were added, including a footrace in which athletes ran in partial armour and contests for heralds and for trumpeters. The program, however, was not nearly so varied as that of the modern Olympics. There were neither team games nor ball games, and the athletics (track and field) events were limited to the four running events and the pentathlon mentioned above. Chariot races and horse racing, which became part of the ancient Games, were held in the hippodrome south of the stadium. Men wrestling, detail of an ancient Greek cup, by Epictetus, c. 520 bc; in the Agora Museum, … © Gianni Dagli Orti/Corbis Big Radio Burst from Tiny Galaxy In the early centuries of Olympic competition, all the contests took place on one day; later the Games were spread over four days, with a fifth devoted to the closing-ceremony presentation of prizes and a banquet for the champions. In most events the athletes participated in the nude. Through the centuries scholars have sought to explain this practice.

Theories have ranged from the eccentric (to be nude in public without an erection demonstrated self-control) to the usual anthropological, religious, and social explanations, including the following: (1) nudity bespeaks a rite of passage, (2) nudity was a holdover from the days of hunting and gathering , (3) nudity had, for the Greeks, a magical power to ward off harm, and (4) public nudity was a kind of costume of the upper class. Historians grasp at dubious theories because, in Judeo-Christian society, to compete nude in public seems odd, if not scandalous. Yet ancient Greeks found nothing shameful about nudity, especially male nudity. Therefore, the many modern explanations of Greek athletic nudity are in the main unnecessary. The Olympic Games The Olympic Games were technically restricted to freeborn Greeks. Many Greek competitors came from the Greek colonies on the Italian peninsula and in Asia Minor and Africa . Most of the participants were professionals who trained full-time for the events. These athletes earned substantial prizes for winning at many other preliminary festivals, and, although the only prize at Olympia was a wreath or garland, an Olympic champion also received widespread adulation and often lavish benefits from his home city.

Women and the Olympic Games Although there were no women’s events in the ancient Olympics, several women appear in the official lists of Olympic victors as the owners of the stables of some victorious chariot entries. In Sparta, girls and young women did practice and compete locally. But, apart from Sparta, contests for young Greek women were very rare and probably limited to an annual local footrace. At Olympia, however, the Herean festival, held every four years in honour of the goddess Hera , included a race for young women, who were divided into three age groups. Yet the Herean race was not part of the Olympics (they took place at another time of the year) and probably was not instituted before the advent of the Roman Empire. Then for a brief period girls competed at a few other important athletic venues . Connect with Britannica Facebook Twitter YouTube Instagram Pinterest The 2nd-century-ce traveler Pausanias wrote that women were banned from Olympia during the actual Games under penalty of death. Yet he also remarked that the law and penalty had never been invoked . His account later incongruously stated that unmarried women were allowed as Olympic spectators.

Many historians believe that a later scribe simply made an error copying this passage of Pausanias’s text here. Nonetheless, the notion that all or only married women were banned from the Games endured in popular writing on the topic, though the evidence regarding women as spectators remains unclear. Demise of the Olympics Greece lost its independence to Rome in the middle of the 2nd century bce, and support for the competitions at Olympia and elsewhere fell off considerably during the next century. The Romans looked on athletics with contempt—to strip naked and compete in public was degrading in their eyes. The Romans realized the political value of the Greek festivals, however, and Emperor Augustus staged games for Greek athletes in a temporary wooden stadium erected near the Circus Maximus in Rome and instituted major new athletic festivals in Italy and in Greece. Emperor Nero was also a keen patron of the festivals in Greece, but he disgraced himself and the Olympic Games when he entered a chariot race , fell off his vehicle, and then declared himself the winner anyway. Romans neither trained for nor participated in Greek athletics. Roman gladiator shows and team chariot racing were not related to the Olympic Games or to Greek athletics.

The main difference between the Greek and Roman attitudes is reflected in the words each culture used to describe its festivals: for the Greeks they were contests (agōnes), while for the Romans they were games (ludi). The Greeks originally organized their festivals for the competitors, the Romans for the public. One was primarily competition, the other entertainment. The Olympic Games were finally abolished about 400 ce by the Roman emperor Theodosius I or his son because of the festival’s pagan associations. The modern Olympic movement Editor Picks: Exploring 10 Types of Basketball Movies Revival of the Olympics The ideas and work of several people led to the creation of the modern Olympics. The best-known architect of the modern Games was Pierre, baron de Coubertin , born in Paris on New Year’s Day, 1863. Family tradition pointed to an army career or possibly politics, but at age 24 Coubertin decided that his future lay in education, especially physical education. In 1890 he traveled to England to meet Dr. William Penny Brookes , who had written some articles on education that attracted the Frenchman’s attention.

Brookes also had tried for decades to revive the ancient Olympic Games, getting the idea from a series of modern Greek Olympiads held in Athens starting in 1859. The Greek Olympics were founded by Evangelis Zappas, who, in turn, got the idea from Panagiotis Soutsos , a Greek poet who was the first to call for a modern revival and began to promote the idea in 1833. Brookes’s first British Olympiad, held in London in 1866, was successful, with many spectators and good athletes in attendance. But his subsequent attempts met with less success and were beset by public apathy and opposition from rival sporting groups. Rather than give up, in the 1880s Brookes began to argue for the founding of international Olympics in Athens. When Coubertin sought to confer with Brookes about physical education, Brookes talked more about Olympic revivals and showed him documents relating to both the Greek and the British Olympiads. He also showed Coubertin newspaper articles reporting his own proposal for international Olympic Games.

On November 25, 1892, at a meeting of the Union des Sports Athlétiques in Paris, with no mention of Brookes or these previous modern Olympiads, Coubertin himself advocated the idea of reviving the Olympic Games, and he propounded his desire for a new era in international sport when he said: Let us export our oarsmen, our runners, our fencers into other lands. That is the true Free Trade of the future; and the day it is introduced into Europe the cause of Peace will have received a new and strong ally. Trending Topics Industrial Revolution He then asked his audience to help him in “the splendid and beneficent task of reviving the Olympic Games.” The speech did not produce any appreciable activity, but Coubertin reiterated his proposal for an Olympic revival in Paris in June 1894 at a conference on international sport attended by 79 delegates representing 49 organizations from 9 countries. Coubertin himself wrote that, except for his coworkers Dimítrios Vikélas of Greece, who was to be the first president of the International Olympic Committee, and Professor William M.

Sloane of the United States, from the College of New Jersey (later Princeton University), no one had any real interest in the revival of the Games. Nevertheless, and to quote Coubertin again, “a unanimous vote in favour of revival was rendered at the end of the Congress chiefly to please me.” It was at first agreed that the Games should be held in Paris in 1900. Six years seemed a long time to wait, however, and it was decided (how and by whom remains obscure) to change the venue to Athens and the date to April 1896. A great deal of indifference, if not opposition, had to be overcome, including a refusal by the Greek prime minister to stage the Games at all. But when a new prime minister took office, Coubertin and Vikélas were able to carry their point, and the Games were opened by the king of Greece in the first week of April 1896, on Greek Independence Day. Organization The International Olympic Committee At the Congress of Paris in 1894, the control and development of the modern Olympic Games were entrusted to the International Olympic Committee (IOC; Comité International Olympique).

During World War I Coubertin moved its headquarters to Lausanne , Switzerland, where they have remained. The IOC is responsible for maintaining the regular celebration of the Olympic Games, seeing that the Games are carried out in the spirit that inspired their revival, and promoting the development of sports throughout the world. The original committee in 1894 consisted of 14 members and Coubertin. IOC members are regarded as ambassadors from the committee to their national sports organizations. They are in no sense delegates to the committee and may not accept, from the government of their country or from any organization or individual, any instructions that in any way affect their independence. The IOC is a permanent organization that elects its own members. Reforms in 1999 set the maximum membership at 115, of whom 70 are individuals, 15 current Olympic athletes, 15 national Olympic committee presidents, and 15 international sports federation presidents. The members are elected to renewable eight-year terms, but they must retire at age 70. Term limits were also applied to future presidents.

The IOC elects its president for a period of eight years, at the end of which the president is eligible for reelection for further periods of four years each. The executive board of 15 members holds periodic meetings with the international federations and national Olympic committees. The IOC as a whole meets annually, and a meeting can be convened at any time that one-third of the members so request. International Olympic Committee presidents *The Winter Games were not held until 1924. **Games were not held during World War I and World War II. ***From 1992 the Summer and Winter Games were held on a staggered two-year schedule. Corruption In December 1998 the sporting world was shocked by allegations of widespread corruption within the IOC . It was charged that IOC members had accepted bribes —in the form of cash, gifts, entertainment, business favours, travel expenses, medical expenses, and even college tuition for members’ children—from members of the committee that had successfully advanced the bid of Salt Lake City , Utah , as the site for the 2002 Winter Games. Accusations of impropriety were also alleged in the conduct of several previous bid committees.

The IOC responded by expelling six committee members; several others resigned. In December 1999 an IOC commission announced a 50-point reform package covering the selection and conduct of the IOC members, the bid process, the transparency of financial dealings, the size and conduct of the Games, and drug regulation. The reform package also contained a number of provisions regulating the site-selection process and clarifying the obligations of the IOC, the bid cities, and the national Olympic committees. An independent IOC Ethics Commission also was established. Political pressures Because the Olympics take place on an international stage, it is not surprising that they have been plagued by the nationalism , manipulation, and propaganda associated with world politics. Attempts to politicize the Olympics were evident as early as the first modern Games at Athens in 1896, when the British compelled an Australian athlete to declare himself British. Other prominent examples of the politicization of the Games include the Nazi propaganda that pervaded the Berlin Games of 1936; the Soviet-Hungarian friction at the 1956 Games in Melbourne, Australia, which followed shortly after the U.S.S.R.

had brutally suppressed a revolution in Hungary that year; the forbidden, unofficial, but prominent contests for “points” (medals counts) between the United States and the Soviet Union during the height of the Cold War; the controversy between China and Taiwan leading up to the 1976 Montreal Games; the manifold disputes resulting from South Africa ’s apartheid policy from 1968 to 1988; the U.S.-led boycott of the 1980 Moscow Games (in protest of the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan in 1979), followed by the retaliatory boycott of the 1984 Los Angeles Games by the Soviet bloc; and, worst of all, the murder of Israeli athletes by terrorists at the 1972 Games in Munich , West Germany. Even national politics has affected the Games, most notably in 1968 in Mexico City, where, shortly before the Games opened, Mexican troops fired upon Mexican students (killing hundreds) who were protesting government expenditures on the Olympics while the country had pressing social problems. Political tension within the United States also boiled to the top at Mexico City when African American athletes either boycotted the Games or staged demonstrations to protest continuing racism at home.

In the latter half of the 20th century, the IOC sought to more actively promote peace through sports. The IOC and relevant Olympic organizing committees worked with political leaders to allow the participation of former Yugoslav republics at the 1992 Games in Barcelona , Spain , as well as the participation of East Timorese and Palestinian athletes at the 2000 Games in Sydney , Australia . In 2000 the IOC revived and modernized the ancient Olympic truce, making it the focal point of its peace initiatives . (See Sidebar: The Olympic Truce .) Commercialization Commercialism has never been wholly absent from the Games, but two large industries have eclipsed all others—namely, television and makers of sports apparel, especially shoes. The IOC, organizing committees of the Olympic Games (OCOGs), and to some degree the international sport federations depend heavily on television revenues, and many of the best athletes depend on money from apparel endorsements. Vigorous bidding for the television rights began in earnest before the Rome Games in 1960; what have been called the “sneaker wars” started an Olympiad later in Tokyo.

The Los Angeles Games of 1984, however, ushered in a new Olympic era. In view of Montreal’s huge financial losses from the 1976 Olympics, Peter Ueberroth , head of the Los Angeles OCOG, sold exclusive “official sponsor” rights to the highest bidder in a variety of corporate categories. Now almost everything is commercialized with “official” items ranging from credit cards to beer. And while American decathlete Bill Toomey lost his Olympic eligibility in 1964 for endorsing a nutritional supplement, now athletes openly endorse allergy medicines and blue jeans. National Olympic committees, international federations, and organizing committees Each country that desires to participate in the Olympic Games must have a national Olympic committee accepted by the IOC. By the early 21st century, there were more than 200 such committees. A national Olympic committee (NOC) must be composed of at least five national sporting federations, each affiliated with an appropriate international federation. The ostensible purpose of these NOCs is the development and promotion of the Olympic movement. NOCs arrange to equip, transport, and house their country’s representatives at the Olympic Games.

According to the rules of the NOCs, they must be not-for-profit organizations, must not associate themselves with affairs of a political or commercial nature, and must be completely independent and autonomous as well as in a position to resist all political, religious, or commercial pressure. For each Olympic sport there must be an international federation (IF), to which a requisite number of applicable national governing bodies must belong. The IFs promote and regulate their sport on an international level. Since 1986 they have been responsible for determining all questions of Olympic eligibility and competition in their sport. The International Federation of Rowing Associations was founded in 1892, even before the IOC. In 1912 Sigfrid Edström, later president of the IOC, founded the IF for athletics (track and field), the earliest of Olympic sports and perhaps the Games’ special focus. Because such sports as football (soccer) and basketball attract great numbers of participants and spectators in all parts of the world, their respective IFs possess great power and sometimes exercise it. When the IOC awards the Olympic Games to a city, an organizing committee for the Olympic Games (OCOG) replaces the successful bid committee, often including many of that committee’s members.

Although the IOC retains ultimate authority over all aspects of an Olympiad, the local OCOG has full responsibility for the festival, including finance, facilities, staffing, and accommodations. In Paris in 1924, a number of cabins were built near the stadium to house visiting athletes; the complex was called “ Olympic Village .” But the first Olympic Village with kitchens, dining rooms, and other amenities was introduced at Los Angeles in 1932. Now each organizing committee provides such a village so that competitors and team officials can be housed together and fed at a reasonable price. Menus for each team are prepared in accord with its own national cuisine. Today, with so many athletes and venues, OCOGs may need to provide more than one village. The villages are located as close as possible to the main stadium and other venues and have separate accommodations for men and women. Only competitors and officials may live in the village, and the number of team officials is limited. Programs and participation The Olympic Games celebrate an Olympiad, or period of four years.

The first Olympiad of modern times was celebrated in 1896, and subsequent Olympiads are numbered consecutively, even when no Games take place (as was the case in 1916, 1940, and 1944). Olympic Winter Games have been held separately from the Games of the Olympiad (Summer Games) since 1924 and were initially held in the same year. In 1986 the IOC voted to alternate the Winter and Summer Games every two years, beginning in 1994. The Winter Games were held in 1992 and again in 1994 and thereafter every four years; the Summer Games maintained their original four-year cycle. The maximum number of entries permitted for individual events is three per country. The number is fixed (but can be varied) by the IOC in consultation with the international federation concerned. In most team events only one team per country is allowed. In general, an NOC may enter only a citizen of the country concerned. There is no age limit for competitors unless one has been established by a sport’s international federation. No discrimination is allowed on grounds of “race,” religion, or political affiliation.

The Games are contests between individuals and not between countries. The Summer Olympic program includes the following sports: aquatics (including swimming, synchronized swimming, diving, and water polo), archery, athletics (track and field), badminton, basketball, boxing, canoeing and kayaking, cycling, equestrian sports, fencing, field hockey , football (soccer), golf, gymnastics (including artistic, rhythmic, and trampoline), team handball , judo, modern pentathlon, rowing, rugby , sailing (formerly yachting), shooting, table tennis, tae kwon do, tennis, triathlon, volleyball (indoor and beach), weightlifting, and wrestling. Women participate in all these sports, whereas men do not compete in synchronized swimming or rhythmic gymnastics. The Winter Olympic program includes sports played on snow or ice: biathlon, bobsledding, curling , ice hockey , ice skating (figure skating and speed skating), luge, skeleton (headfirst) sledding, skiing, ski jumping, and snowboarding. Athletes of either gender may compete in all these sports.

An Olympic program must include national exhibitions and demonstrations of fine arts (architecture, literature, music, painting, sculpture, photography, and sports philately). The particular events included in the different sports are a matter for agreement between the IOC and the international federations. In 2005 the IOC reviewed the summer sports program, and members voted to drop baseball and softball from the 2012 Games. While sports such as rugby and karate were considered, none won the 75 percent favourable vote needed for inclusion. In 2009 the IOC voted to add women’s boxing to the 2012 program, as well as golf and rugby sevens to the 2016 program. Baseball and softball were added back to the program for the 2020 Games, and karate, skateboarding, sport climbing, and surfing were also added. To be allowed to compete, an athlete must meet the eligibility requirements as defined by the international body of the particular sport and also by the rules of the IOC. Amateurism versus professionalism In the final decades of the 20th century there was a shift in policy away from the IOC’s traditionally strict definition of amateur status.

In 1971 the IOC decided to eliminate the term amateur from the Olympic Charter. Subsequently the eligibility rules were amended to permit “broken-time” payments to compensate athletes for time spent away from work during training and competition. The IOC also legitimized the sponsorship of athletes by NOCs, sports organizations, and private businesses. In 1984 some of the world’s best athletes were still banned from the Games because they competed for money , but in 1986 the IOC adopted rules that permit the international federation governing each Olympic sport to decide whether to permit professional athletes in Olympic competition. Professionals in ice hockey, tennis, soccer, and equestrian sports were permitted to compete in the 1988 Olympics, although their eligibility was subject to some restrictions. By the 21st century the presence of professional athletes at the Olympic Games was common. Doping and drug testing At the 1960 Rome Olympics, a Danish cyclist collapsed and died after his coach had given him amphetamines. Formal drug tests seemed necessary and were instituted at the 1968 Winter Games in Grenoble , France . There only one athlete was disqualified for taking a banned substance—beer.

But in the 1970s and ′80s athletes tested positive for a variety of performance-enhancing drugs, and since the ′70s doping has remained the most difficult challenge facing the Olympic movement. As the fame and potential monetary gains for Olympic champions grew in the latter half of the 20th century, so too did the use of performance-enhancing drugs. Tests for anabolic steroids and other substances improved, but so did doping practices, with the design of new substances often a year or two ahead of the new tests. When 100-metre-sprint champion Ben Johnson of Canada tested positive for the drug stanozolol at the 1988 Summer Games in Seoul , South Korea, the world was shocked, and the Games themselves were tainted. To more effectively police doping practices, the IOC formed the World Anti-Doping Agency in 1999. There is now a long list of banned substances and a thorough testing process. Blood and urine samples are collected from athletes before and after competition and sent to a lab for testing. Positive tests for banned substances lead to disqualification, and athletes may be banned from competition for periods ranging from a year to life.

Yet, despite the harsh penalties and threat of public humiliation, athletes continue to test positive for banned substances. Ritual and symbolism Calgary 1988: Winter Olympic Host City Home > Events > Olympics > Winter > Hosts > Calgary Host City: Calgary 1988 The Winter Olympic Games were held in Calgary, Canada, in 1988, between Feb 13-28. 57 Nations with 1423 participants competed in 46 events. The Games are spread over 16 days for the first time. Christa Luding-Rothenburger of East Germany is the only athlete to have won the medals in both the Winter and Summer Olympic Games, in the same year. She won the women's 1000 meter speed skating event at the Winter Olympics in Calgary 1988, and seven months later won a silver medal in track cycling in the Seoul Summer Olympic Games. Short track speed skating was a demonstration sport at these games before becoming a full sport at subsequent Games. The first black athlete to win a Winter Olympic medal was Debi Thomas of the United States, finishing third in figure skating at the 1988 Games in Calgary.

British ski jumper Eddie "the Eagle" Edwards came in last in the 70-meter and 90-meter jumps, and was welcomed home by hundreds of fans in London.

Jamaica entered its first bobsled team at these Olympics, finishing last (see video ) Share: 1988 Seoul Summer Games | Olympics at Sports-Reference.com 1988 Seoul Summer Games Host City: Seoul, South Korea (September 17, 1988 to October 2, 1988) Opening Ceremony: September 17, 1988 (opened by President Roh Tae-Woo) Lighter of the Olympic Flame: Won-Tak Kim Taker of the Olympic Oath: Heo Jae , Son Mi-Na (athlete) Closing Ceremony: October 2, 1988 Events: 237 in 27 sports Participants: 8,453 (6,249 men and 2,202 women) from 159 countries Youngest Participant: Nádia Cruz (13 years, 74 days) Oldest Participant: Durward Knowles (70 years, 323 days) Most Medals (Athlete): Soviet Union (132 medals) Overview In late September 1981, when the IOC awarded the 1988 Olympics to Seoul,

 the Olympic world was stunned.

The choice was highly controversial as many prominent nations in the Olympic Movement, notably the Soviet Bloc nations, did not have diplomatic relations with the Seoul government. After the political problems that had marred the last few Olympics, there was widespread concern that another boycott would ensue because of this. » Click to show/hide rest of overview The problem became more complicated in July 1985 when DPR (North) Korea demanded that it be allowed to co-host the Games with the Republic of Korea. Over the next three years the IOC negotiated with North Korea and offered to allow it to stage several events. However, no IOC concession was ever enough for the North, who wanted equal co-host status and an equal number of events. They demanded this despite the fact that the Games were close at hand and they had no possible hope of building the necessary facilities in time. When the IOC would not concede further to the North's demands, North Korea announced that it would definitely boycott the Seoul Olympics. By then, however, most of the Eastern Bloc countries had agreed to compete in Seoul, making 1988 the first Summer Olympic competition in 12 years between the United States, the Soviet Union and the German Democratic Republic.

After the North Korean's final boycott announcement, Cuba and Ethiopia also announced that they would not attend the Olympics, out of solidarity with North Korea. Nicaragua, Albania, and the Seychelles also did not attend the Olympics, though their reasons were less clear and may not have been directly related to any boycott. But the Seoul Games went on and saw the largest participation in Olympics history. There were more nations and more countries represented than ever before. The Games themselves were excellent and very well run. Controversies and political intrusions, unlike the Games of the last 20 years, were relatively few and comparatively minor. Three swimmers and one female track & field athlete dominated the sporting events. In the pool, the GDR's [Kristin Otto] broke all sorts of records by winning six gold medals. It was an unmatched performance by a woman at the Olympics. Her only rival for swimming supremacy was America's [Janet Evans] who won three gold medals. But they never raced each other, as Otto was a sprinter and Evans a distance swimmer. On the men's side of the pool, [Matt Biondi] was attempting to equal [Mark Spitz]'s record of seven gold medals.

He failed in his first two events, taking a silver and a bronze. However, he then won gold in his last five events, to equal Spitz's haul of seven medals, though they had a bit less lustre. On the track, the world was stunned by the performances of [Florence Griffith Joyner]. A solid world-class sprinter for a decade, she had re-dedicated herself in 1988 and had shattered records at the American Olympic Trials. At the Olympics she won the [100] and [200], setting world records in the 200 finals. In the 100, she posted a time that was wind-aided, but was otherwise the fastest time ever recorded. She then helped the American women win a gold medal in the [4×100 relay]. Finally, she was asked by the American coaches to run anchor in the [4×400 relay]. She did so, and narrowly missed catching the Soviet's [Olha Bryzhina], as the Americans won a silver medal. Her total haul was three gold medals and one silver.

The biggest media event of the 1988 Olympic Games was the disqualification of Canadian sprinter [Ben Johnson], after he had won the [100 metres] in the world record time of 9.79, and defeating [Carl Lewis] in the process. But a few days later, Johnson tested positive for stanazolol, an anabolic steroid, and was disqualified with Lewis receiving the gold medal. After the uproar of the scandal, the Canadian launched an inquiry into drug use in international sport, the Dubin Inqury. At the inquiry, Johnson admitted he had used steroids for several years. One of Seoul's legacies to the Olympic Movement was a new Olympic Flag. The main Olympic flag was termed the Antwerp flag, because it had been made in 1920 and donated to the IOC by the Antwerp organizing committee. But the flag was worn and it was soon to be retired to the Olympic Museum. Seoul provided the IOC with a replacement, fashioned from pure raw Korean silk, with the needlework done by skilled Korean craftsmen. Thus the Seoul legacy will literally fly over many future Olympic Games.

Country Medal Leaders A Sports Reference Site : About SR/Olympics | Privacy Statement | Conditions & Terms of Service | Use of Data Data provided by OlyMADMen , led by Hilary Evans, Arild Gjerde, Jeroen Heijmans, and Bill Mallon. Members: David Foster, Martin Frank, Jørn Jensen, Carl-Johan Johansson, Taavi Kalju, Martin Kellner, George Masin, Stein Opdahl, Wolf Reinhardt, Ralf Regnitter, Paul Tchir, Magne Teigen, Christian Tugnoli, Morten Aarlia Torp, and Ralf Schlüter. Sports Reference LLC and are not sponsored by or affiliated with the Olympics, the United States Olympic Committee or the International Olympic Committee. Trademarks featured or referred to on this website are the property of their respective trademark holders and not Sports Reference LLC or . Part of the

Question: The summer Olympic Games of 1988 were held in which city?
Answer: Seoul